Numerical study of time domain analogy applied to noise prediction from rotating blades

Aeroacoustic formulations in time domain are frequently used to model the aerodynamic sound of airfoils, the time data being more accessible. The formulation 1A developed by Farassat, an integral solution of the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings equation, holds great interest because of its ability to handle surfaces in arbitrary motion. The aim of this work is to study the numerical sensitivity of this model to specified parameters used in the calculation. The numerical algorithms, spatial and time discretizations, and approximations used for far-field acoustic simulation are presented. An approach of quantifying of the numerical errors resulting from implementation of formulation 1A is carried out based on Isom's and Tam's test cases. A helicopter blade airfoil, as defined by Farassat to investigate Isom's case, is used in this work. According to Isom, the 2 acoustic response of a dipole source with a constant aerodynamic load, rho(0)c(0)(2), is equal to the thickness noise contribution. Discrepancies are observed when the two contributions are computed numerically. In this work, variations of these errors, which depend on the temporal resolution, Mach number, source-observer distance, and interpolation algorithm type, are investigated. The results show that the spline interpolating algorithm gives the minimum error. The analysis is then extended to Tam's test case. Tam's test case has the advantage of providing an analytical solution for the first harmonic of the noise produced by a specific force distribution. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.